Good God, is it Oscar Time Already?

Apparently at least Sony Pictures Classics thinks so: they've officially kicked the season off by sending screeners of Junebug
to voters. Five months before the awards ceremony. Five months! This is utterly insane. I can't wait for the day when studios are
sending out DVDs of directors' reels before films even go into
production. Just, you know, to give people an idea of the great stuff
that might be eligible for nomination in 18 months or so. Oh and hey, there's good news for bootleggers - Sony has elected to send Junebug out in a less protected format, so start tapping your contacts and checking eBay.

Ballots
go out in December, and most screeners are mailed close to that time -
the assumption/hope is that voters will be more likely to remember the
films they've just seen, rather than those they watched weeks or months
ago.